André-Samuel-Michel Cantwell (Paris, 1744 – Paris, 1802) was a soldier, librarian and translator.

His father André (+1764) was an Irishman who had moved to France in the 1720s to work as a doctor. He was appointed to the faculty of medicine of the city of Paris in 1733. He published profusely on medical subjects, including a number of French translations of English works.

Cantwell joined the army, becoming a lieutenant to the marshals of France. In that quality he was admitted to the Hôpital des Invalides in 1792. He became the librarian of that institution. He seems to have taken up translating only after the end of his military career, producing the bulk of his translations in the 1790s.

As the son of an Irish immigrant who was fluent in both English and French, Cantwell was in a position to broker between both cultures. This is clear from his translation of Hugh Blair’s Leçons de rhétorique et de belles-lettres, a manual to the English language. In the preface he comments extensively on the relationship between both languages, insisting that they are a lot more similar than is usually assumed. In paratextual comments to other works he often compared England and France. Cantwell identified as French nevertheless and did not translate to English.

As a translator he was versatile and productive. His first known translations were collaborative efforts on large works of history: Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall and Robert Henry’s History of England. He went on to translate novels (Anne Hughes, Henry and Isabella; John Moore, Zéluco, Mary Robinson, Hubert de Sevrac, Thomas Holcroft, The Adventures of Hughes Trevor), travel writing (Ann Radcliffe, Robert Townson, John Byron), geography and political treatises (Priestley, Montagu).

Cantwell regularly claimed to be a faithful and literal translator. Nevertheless, Louis-Gabriel Michaud posthumously called him ‘one of the most ignorant and inexact translators who has ever afflicted literature’. As a translator, Cantwell did not hide his opinions. He commented on the translated works in prefaces and footnotes. In the case of Montagu’s De la Naissance et de la chute des anciennes républiques he even added a completely new chapter in order to draw conclusions concerning contemporary France.

His choice of translated works and his comments allow to gauge his political outlook. He translated many works of radical or reformist authors, whose opinions he openly supported. This could be political tracts as well as novels. In his preface to John Moore’s Zéluco, he develops the novel’s theme of individual virtue into a plea for virtuous government. By moving from the personal to the public, he draws the reader’s attention to the political implications of a story that in itself is not politically charged. In his prefaces to both Zéluco and the gothic novel Le Château d'Albert he connects the depraved actions of their protagonists to the Old Regime society in which they operated. In the same vein he translated Mary Robinson’s Hubert de Sévrac, a radical novel celebrating the Fall of the Bastille.

Two works stand out for Cantwell’s open political comments: Cours d'histoire et de politique (Priestley) and De la Naissance et de la chute des anciennes républiques (Montagu). In both cases Cantwell enriched the texts (concerned with history and political theory) with testimonies of his own experiences in the French Revolution. Concerning the latter work, he claims to have taken on the translation because of the utility which the author’s reflections might have for contemporary France. His respect for both authors does not stop him from correcting their works and expressing wonder at their mistakes.

Cantwell’s comments indicate that he had an altogether negative view of human nature, and of the French national character in particular. He continuously insists on virtue as the basis of free government but simultaneously claims that contemporary society is beyond regeneration. He paints the French people as fickle, inconsistent and egoistic, allowing itself to be misled by ambitious and hypocrite leaders. For these reasons, among others, he is thoroughly distrustful of popular government. He sympathises with Priestley’s view that democratic government is not suited to large nations. In his extra chapter to Montagu he places particular emphasis on the danger of political equality. Writing in 1793, Cantwell calls for a return to order and safety and vesting power in the hands of the propertied citizens. He is hostile towards the impoverished classes, whom who considers should not be trusted with arms because the interest they have in prolonging the state of anarchy.

Bibliography

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9-Samuel-Michel_Cantwell

‘Cantwell (André-Samuel-Michel)’, in: Pierre Larousse, Grand Dictionnaire Universel, vol. 6 (Paris: Thoisnier Desplaces, 1843) 586-587.

Louis-Gabriel Michaud, Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne, vol 7 (Paris, 1813) 40-41.